Value of ultrasound elastography versus transrectal prostatic biopsy in prostatic cancer detection

ObjectiveTo detect the impact of ultrasound elastography in diagnosis of prostatic cancer, and to evaluate its capability in differentiating benign from malignant lesions.Materials and methodsFifty patients with different prostatic lesions suspicious for malignancy were included. All patients had a conventional B-mode ultrasound examination and color Doppler imaging, and then real time ultrasound elastography was performed in the same session. Finally, the results were compared to the histo-pathological results of those lesions.ResultsThe addition of Strain ratio parameter for evaluating the elastography images showed the highest sensitivity of 74.2%, specificity of 73.7% and accuracy of 74.0% at a best cutoff point of 5.5 between benign and malignant lesions.ConclusionBased on our results, prostate US combined with elastography can be a helpful tool for finding malignant lesions. Also it can help in targeting the biopsy site.